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NY Education Moves
Background DMI Op-Ed: Educating those in poverty would be true legacy Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks big, especially when it comes to constructing things that will last beyond him. Right now he has a singular opportunity to build a different kind of legacy - that of a city committed to providing the poor with the education necessary to work their way out of poverty. In January, the New York City Human Resources Administration issued a policy directive granting more people on public assistance the opportunity to gain the skills they'll need to lift themselves out of poverty. The move marks a shift in City Hall's position on welfare-to-work programs. And, with it, Bloomberg has an opportunity to communicate a new message about what New York values: sound policies' that improve New York City by improving the prospects of its poorest citizens. Rather than forcing work-fare participants into rigid 35-hour-a-week job placement, the latest policy directive out of the Human Resources Administration - the Coalition for Access to Training and Education Law - allows childless adults on public assistance to spend up to 12 months pursuing education and training full-time. Such provisions are already on the books in number of other states - for a reason. They work. A study has shown that 88 percent of women receiving welfare who earn a bachelor's degree move permanently from public assistance and out of poverty. Additionally, a 2001 study has shown that those holding bachelor's degrees and receiving temporary assistance for needy families were nearly 30 percent more likely to remain employed after leaving public assistance than high school graduates. Not only do they become productive members of our struggling economy, but they pull their families and communities up with them. New Yorkers understand this intuitively. According to a 2003 survey by the Community Service Society, 72 percent of New York City residents considered "more education and training" to be the one thing that would "most help people on welfare be able to get jobs." So why not take this new directive, which at this point hasn't even warranted a press release from City Hall, and turn it into a message that New York's welfare policy is under new management? The first step will require that Bloomberg handle some unfinished business: his refusal to execute a City Council bill and a court order requiring the city to allow single parents receiving public assistance to pursue education as part of welfare-to-work programs. He did so on the grounds that the City Council was attempting to step on his executive toes and legislate over his head. Well, then, the mayor should execute away. The latest Human Resources Administration directive represents the best of what we know moves people out of poverty. But strong advocacy beyond his policy change is integral to its implementation. The truth of the matter is that very often good policies such as the Human Resources Administration's are not implemented properly because essential information isn't passed on from legislators to administrators; from administrators to supervisors; from supervisors to caseworkers, and ultimately down to the people on the receiving end of city services. The miscommunication comes as a result of a lack of clear vision and purpose behind seemingly arbitrary bureaucratic changes. With more and more New Yorkers embracing the importance of higher education as a prerequisite to accessing the American Dream, the time is right for the mayor to capitalize on the change in public opinion and mobilize the political will around a progressive response to last decade's failed attempt at welfare reform in this city. Maureen Lane June 7, 2005